The perks of being a VIP

Happy are they who in this chaos of thingsWith the feet of time chasing them in the rear,Continue to be Very Ignorable PersonsLiving modestly, armed only with hope, doubt and fear.

In this uncertain and ambiguous worldFull of pompous VIPs of a different kind,Happy are they, anchored on fixed beliefImmense wealth they do not need to mind.

Drunken driving they dare not indulge intoLest the long arms of law catch up with them,Disproportionate assets not to worry aboutThe poverty in their lives being the only gem.

They continue to chug along eking out a livingFacing the harsh slings and arrows of Fate,Happy, contented, smiling, enjoying togethernessNurturing their family along with a soul mate.

Lining up for public facilities they are used to,But they sleep well, relishing the small joys of lifeThey dream big for their younger onesStruggling hard to keep them away from harm and strife.

Not for them the exalted concerns of the privileged classThe color of the beacons on their cars, the power and the pelf,The ‘special handling’ at airports, at toll booths and at other places,Twisting the short arms of the law, escaping ignonimity of the self.

The enforced solitude and the lack of real private spaceMissing the late night ice creams off a street-parked cart,The stress of living in a fish bowl, always in the media glareUnable to go off to a movie or to a museum for a spot of art.

Imagine being a Bertie Wooster sans the millionsGoing about life care-free, helping out pals in distress,Reuniting sundered hearts, obliging ungentlemanly auntsAvoiding a saunter down the aisle with an aspiring mistress.

Tickling purring cats behind their ears, befriending dogs with aniseed,Relishing lavish spreads of Anatole, laced with some exotic wines,Merely pinching policemen’s helmets, manuscripts and cow-creamersFacing a beak like Pop Bassett and coughing up some modest fines.

Our system somehow does not follow Pop Bassett’s exampleOur celebrities might be aware how very lucky they happen to be,Receiving acquittals aplenty, escaping the thirty days without an optionA furlough there, a bail here, pretty liberal the system appears to be.

Happy are they who in this chaos of thingsWith the feet of time chasing them in the rear,Can afford the luxury of continuing to be Very Ignorable PersonsLiving modestly, armed only with hope, doubt and fear.

True….we can’t really blame ourselves, our station in life being determined by not only our own efforts or attitudes but also the kind of socio-economic strata we happen to belong to. Even if we were to become a part of the other sort of VIP group, we might never like to come back to this group!

A very relistic description of the mess that is India. Truly the common man is the one to suffer, which is brought out by this post.Mr. Bhatia has touched the raw nerve that is hurting the common man in his lighthhearted manner, which touches the Nation’s shame. The Wodehousean referenceeses help create the contrast between the ideallyic, pure world with the harsh discrepencies of the real one.
The style of writing leaves the reader awestruck.